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HOUSTON, TX. - OCTOBER 18: David Price #24 of the Boston Red Sox yells in celebration after blanking the Houston Astros through six innings in Game Five of Major League Baseball's American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas on October 18, 2018. (Staff photo by Christopher Evans)

Rather than turn to him on normal rest to start Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday, when the Red Sox will try to finish off their fourth title since 2004, the Sox made a late decision to scratch their ace and start David Price instead.

Price threw 88 pitches in Game 2, 13 pitches in Game 3 on Friday night, warmed up in Game 4 on Saturday and will now start Game 5 on just one day of rest.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora announced the decision at the very end of his press conference following the Red Sox’ 9-6 win over the Dodgers and tried walking out of the room before reporters shouted questions and Cora came back to give a brief response.

“Chris is good, but it's something we talked about before the game,” Cora said. “We feel like this is a good spot for David, in a National League park to start a game. Obviously he's been throwing the ball well. It's not that we're playing with the lead, but we feel that for the team, for where we're at pitching-wise it's good to go with David.”

Cora said Sale will be “back there,” presumably in the bullpen, and lined up to start a potential Game 6.

Sale didn’t have his best stuff in Game 1. And he’s been dealing with shoulder inflammation since August. And his teammates often mention how impressed they've been with Sale pitching despite not being 100 percent.

He said earlier on Saturday that “I'm ready to go. I'm excited for the opportunity.”

Cora's explanation didn’t seem convincing, particularly given the drastic difference in workloads of each pitcher.

“We talked about it the whole day and we decided, I just talked to Chris and David, and that's what we're going to do,” Cora said.